After a lifetime of working on a series of “collective portraits” in far-flung places such as Mexico; Ghana; Italy; Tir a’Mhurain, Scotland; and his adoptive country, France, an aging Paul Strand decided to concentrate on still lifes and the stony beauty of his own garden at Orgeval, France, as a site in which to distill his discoveries as a photographer. The work that constitutes Paul Strand: Portfolio Two—The Garden is marked by close and careful study of the forms and patterns within nature—of tiny button-shaped flowers, cascading winter branches, and fierce snarls of twigs. While the images bear the same directness and precise vision that is quintessentially Strand, the work also reflects a growing metaphorical turn.

These gelatin-silver prints were made under the direction of, and approved by, Paul Strand in his darkroom at Orgeval near the end of his life. In accordance with his practice, each print is archivally processed, gold-toned, and varnished. Each portfolio is sold in a cloth-covered clamshell case and is accompanied by text written and signed by Paul Strand.

Paul Strand (born in New York, 1890; died in Orgeval, France, 1976) was one of the great photographers of the twentieth century. As a youth, he studied under Lewis Hine at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, going on to draw acclaim from such illustrious sources as Alfred Stieglitz and David Alfaro Siqueiros. After World War II, Strand traveled around the world—from New England to Ghana, France to the Outer Hebrides—to photograph, and in the process created a dynamic and significant body of work.